Bo Kimble already had watched his best friend, LMU teammate Hank Gathers, die of cardiac arrest on a basketball court at the 1990 West Coast Conference Basketball Championship. And now, years later in a YMCA game in a mostly empty gym in New Jersey, it was happening again.
“It was extremely bizarre. I didn’t know his name, but I did know his face,” Kimble recalled. “He was a very competitive athlete. When he went down, I was one of three people that was fanning him with a towel.”
The paramedics arrived quickly and tried resuscitating him. They weren’t in time. Robert Carter, 38, died.
“The paramedics came in five minutes. But every minute you don’t get oxygen to the brain your chances of living go down,” Kimble said. “I didn’t know first-aid. I didn’t know CPR. He didn’t need us fanning him with a towel. He needed somebody to perform CPR.”
A few days later, a friend who was refereeing the game that afternoon, ran into Kimble and shared something that stayed with him after the episode. “Bo, you had a look on your face like you’ve been here before,” he told him.
And Kimble realized that Carter — with his physique, his complexion, the whole package — could have been his childhood pal from Philadelphia. “It was literally like I was looking at Hank.”
Kimble was shaken by a replay of the worst day of his life, when Gathers — one of the WCC’s most prolific players — collapsed right in front of him. So, he decided right then he had to do something to make sure it didn’t happen again.
Now 57, Kimble trained to become a CPR instructor and he encourages all adults to learn the life-saving technique. “Now I won’t have to stare and be helpless,” he said. “I can help do what is necessary and give that person a chance.”
Beyond that, he established the “Forty-Four for Life” foundation, named for the jersey number Gathers wore and dedicated to honoring him by working to put defibrillators in every public place.
Since that horrible day, Kimble is convinced Gathers’ death has had an enduring impact. “Hank’s death revolutionized the entire sports medicine industry. Because within five years, all teams began carrying defibrillators when they travel,” he said. “Then look what happened with Damar Hamlin.”
A Buffalo Bills defensive back, Hamlin collapsed during a Monday Night Football game at Cincinnati on Jan, 2, 2023. At 24, he was just one year older than Gathers when he died. The stadium went quiet as fans and a TV audience feared the worst.
But the medical and training staffs went to work immediately, administering CPR for 10 minutes before Hamlin was taken to an area hospital. He not only survived but returned to the NFL late this past season.
For Kimble, the frightening scenario was validation that the sports world has learned the lessons of his friend’s death.
“One-thousand percent. One-hundred percent would be an understatement,” Kimble said. “To prove the point, they did exactly what we learned from the Hank experience. You do the CPR immediately. That’s a perfect response. Hank’s death was not in vain.”
Gathers’ fate was shocking because at 6-foot-6 he appeared to be the strongest, most fit athlete anywhere. Head coach Paul Westhead’s LMU teams were electric, running at a pace not seen before or since in college basketball. For three years, they were must-see hoops, shredding the record books.
And during Black History Month, the WCC celebrates the legacy of Gathers, a three-time all-conference selection and the league’s all-time career scoring leader.
Gathers and Kimble had transferred from USC and in their debut season of 1986-87 Gathers averaged 22.5 points and 8.7 rebounds and the Lions were unbeaten in the WCC before losing to North Carolina in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
A year later, Gathers led the nation in scoring (32.7) and rebounding (13.7) and LMU averaged 112.7 points per game, including 181 in a win over U.S. International.
Kimble took over as the nation’s scoring leader their senior season, averaging 35.7 points, but Gathers remained a force, producing 29.0 points and 10.8 rebounds. The Lions set a still-standing NCAA record by averaging 122.4 points, topping 130 points 11 times. They lost, 148-141, in overtime at LSU, in which Gathers scored 48 points and freshman Shaquille O’Neal assembled a triple-double with 20 points, 24 rebounds and 12 blocked shots.
Remarkably, the Lions caught a flight back to Los Angeles and the next day rang up 157 points in a victory over San Francisco as Kimble went for 50 points.
Gathers, who had been taking medication for his heart ailment, died on March 3 during a semifinal WCC Tournament game against Portland at LMU’s Gersten Pavilion. The Lions led, 25-12, when Gathers went to the floor.
The tournament was halted and LMU was awarded the WCC’s automatic NCAA bid. The Lions had most of the nation cheering for them during an emotional run into the Elite 8 that included a 149-115 rout of defending national champion Michigan.
Kimble shot his first free throw each game left-handed, a tribute to his southpaw teammate. He made each one.
UNLV ended what had to be an exhausting LMU season one step short of the Final Four by posting a decisive 131-101 verdict in Oakland.
Kimble says he has visited 45 countries and lived in eight of them, and never has a week gone by where someone doesn’t bring up that season, the left-handed free throws or Gathers. “Will he be forgotten? Absolutely not.”
Kimble thinks about his friend multiple times every day, just as he reflects on his late mother. “I don’t think of them as if they’re gone — I think of how they lived,” he said. “So many extraordinary thoughts about Hank and my late mother that I don’t get a chance to get to the sad side. Just too many happy moments.”
But there is work to do, and this is now Kimble’s primary focus.
“The foundation is what I’m most passionate about because there is no better way to spend your time than to help save a life and keep your buddy’s legacy alive,” he said. “That’s super-important to me.”
Asked if he’s had had cause to implement the CPR skills he learned, Gathers recalled an incident in Philly about eight months ago when an 18-wheel truck and trailer crossed four lanes on the highway and went into opposing traffic.
“It was a 10 or 12-car event. It was carnage,” Kimble said.
Kimble and three others pulled the truck driver from his cabin and a paramedic began CPR. After perhaps two minutes, Kimble took a turn. The story had a happy ending this time.
“We saved the guy’s life,” Kimble said.